It certainly didn’t seem like it would take nearly a year to travel through the 16 townships that make up Clinton County - but that's how the County Road series has worked out.

Obviously, it's not the length of the journey in terms of miles that turned out to be so time-consuming - other factors, like 'real' news stories which required space on these pages, often interfered with the completion of our little jaunt through the townships.

My apologies in advance to readers who may find the final trip through Riley somewhat unusual - and a little long. It's hard to condense 48 years into 96 inches - I did the best I could.

For those of you who have asked when we'll be making trips through the cities and villages of the county as we promised during this township portion of the tour, the answer is "soon." My personal goal is to finish the entire series before the end of the year - that seems doable, assuming Pres doesn’t pull the mileage plug.

As an interlude between the end of the township tour and start of the city/village travels - and, based on demand from the reading public - I will make a stab at compiling a "County Road Favorite Sites." Somehow, I have a feeling I'll regret this decision to pick and choose places I liked best - but it isn't the first time I've made a potentially bad choice, and it definitely won't be the last.